iPhone Bluetooth application to connect to a Bluetooth printer

Question

Hi,

Has anybody succeeded in developing a bluetooth application on the iPhone that prints to a Bluetooth printer?

I have been investigating the feasibility of developing an iPhone application that could print to a Bluetooth-enabled printer. I've gone through the most of the postings in this thread and was confused by the mail exchanges.

As per my analysis:

Gamekit - can be used for bluetooth connectivity between iPhones and IPods ONLY

Bonjour - can be used for wi-fi connectivity between iPhones/IPods and bonjour-enabled printer

We can use an external accessory to connect to a third party Bluetooth-enabled printer provided the 3rd-party printer complies with the necessary regulations from Apple (registering for either “Made for iPod”/ “Works with iPhone”, and also customizing their printer with specific hardware/software, etc.)

Could someone please share their experiences?

Answer 1

I would bet that you would need to use Bonjour and Wi-Fi for this application. The bluetooth hardware is restricted to gameplay from what I've seen.

Answer 2

well i have sucsessfully accomplished bt printing on a customers I-phone both devices have to be in discovery mode to do so and then the combination wireless and bt will allow only photo printing though otherwise you will need an app

Answer 3

You want their external accessory framework. Not GameKit. Happy coding!

The External Accessory framework provides support for communicating with external hardware connected to an iPhone OS–based device through the 30-pin dock connector or wirelessly using Bluetooth.

(This is exactly what you were looking for)

Answer 4

GeekTECH,

can you elaborate on exactly how you did this and with what device?